Here’s the premise: Britain and other countries are thinking about mandating emissions-trading programs for business. But, says Miliband, individuals — not business — account for almost half of all of Britain’s emissions through their use of planes, trains, automobiles, electricity, various heating fuels — and, presumably, belching and exhaling. “Imagine a country,” says Miliband, “Where carbon becomes a new currency.”

Do we have to…?

Under Miliband’s brave new bizarro-enviro world, every citizen would be given (by the government, of course) an allotment of carbon points that they could spend whenever they used fuels like gas or electricity. If you ran a little short, guess you could always buy points from some clever bloke who saved fuel by taking all his turns on the inside lane. An enterprising Briton who hunkered down for a few years and didn’t burn much fuel (or exhale very much) could horde her points, sell ’em on eBay and become the British Bill Gates or go on a carbon bender.

In any event, if you’ve ever wondered where the enviros were headed, this is a wonderful window to their soul. And it’s kooky.